Shortsighted Move: City will regret it if Warren Street buildings are torn down

Frank Ordonez/The Post-Standard TOM QUARTIER, owner of the former WFBL radio station headquarters at 431-33 and 435-39 S. Warren St., has received permission from the city to tear the buildings down.

By Alan Oberst

I was very distressed to read in The Post-Standard about the proposal to demolish additional buildings on Warren Street downtown, especially given their history and noteworthy art deco style.

Syracuse needs to hang on to buildings like this a little longer, so they can be rehabilitated to be vibrant parts of the urban resurgence that is on the way in this new presidential administration, and with the stimulus package signed by the president. Just last month, as covered so well by Sean Kirst, an art deco building in downtown Syracuse -- the remarkable headquarters of National Grid -- played host to a statewide summit on the economics of reuse of older buildings of character, of which the buildings on Warren Street can serve as a textbook example.

A statewide push for the enactment of tax credits for just this purpose is under way and would also make an ideal target for federal stimulus funding. It would be tragic for Syracuse to lose these buildings just when help is on the way, especially as they are part of a striking collection of art deco buildings in the city.

I live in Rochester, and write about urban planning and historic preservation for a Buffalo publication. This year, I have been working on a consulting project in Syracuse and have been thoroughly enjoying getting to know your remarkable downtown. On my very first day, I was struck by the amount of density and historic building stock you have been able to retain in your downtown core. The result is intact block after intact block, and an interesting mix of architectural styles. I love the abundant foot traffic, and the active, street-level retail that has gone extinct in many other Upstate downtowns.

Although not on the same scale, there is a bite of the "Big Apple" in downtown Syracuse. In Rochester, by contrast, much of our downtown core was sacrificed to "urban renewal," a loss of architectural character and authenticity we still struggle to overcome. And in Buffalo, nearly half of the downtown core was sacrificed for parking, much of it on surface lots which "snaggletooth" the streetscape and depress, rather than enhance, the value of the remaining standing structures.

I urge Syracuse leaders to avoid these mistakes at all costs. Please do not allow money to be foolishly spent to remove buildings which, sooner than you think, you'll sorely regret losing. Instead, invest in the fight under way now at the state and federal levels to win the rehabilitation tax credits and stimulus funding which we need to make the numbers add up for reinvesting in our historic building stock.

The recent summit in Syracuse demonstrated conclusively that preservation-minded architects and developers are chomping at the bit to restore and reuse older buildings all over Upstate, if the funding gap can be filled. These projects would immediately add people to payrolls, and inject tax revenues into cash-strapped local governments -- not to mention giving economically distressed communities a boost with visible evidence of renewal.

Leave your fair city a legacy of a vibrant, intact, downtown core -- and exciting projects like Franklin Square and Armory Square -- and spare yourselves the legacy of regret felt in Rochester and Buffalo over shortsighted demolitions. Use your leadership to save your own city's buildings, and, indirectly, help save ours.